1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable body protective devices and, more particularly, to a seat or back cushion usable to shield the user against injury from gunfire or an attacker having a sharp edged or sharp pointed weapon.
2. Description of Related Art
During medieval times chain mail was worn to minimize injuries from flying arrows, lances and during hand-to-hand combat. Garments of such chain mail were relatively effective but very heavy and tended to limit the agility and movement by a user. Similarly, rigid contoured plates were worn for the same purposes and had the same drawbacks. For the most part, these personal protective devices are not effective to prevent injury from gunfire due to the speed and size of projectiles discharged from presently available firearms.
As technology developed, particularly in the field of man made fibers, lighter weight materials are now available that offer significant resistence against penetration by projectiles discharged from currently available hand-held guns. Furthermore, these materials are essentially impenetrable to sharp edged instruments, such as knives of various sorts, bayonets, icepicks, scissors, etc., any of which could otherwise inflict a painful, debilitating or fatal injury. Consequently, the military and law enforcement personnel have used rigid, semi-rigid or flexible body armor made of some or all of these materials for years to protect themselves against injury from gunfire or a weapon wielding attacker. Materials of the type described above are sold by Dupont under the trademark Kevlar, by Allied Signal under the trademark Spectra, by Akzo Nobel under the trademark Twaron and by Toyobo under the trademark Dyneema. Collectively, these materials will be referred hereinafter as threat-resistant materials. Flexible metallic materials as well as various polymers would also be within this group of threat-resistant materials.
The present invention is a removable seat or back cushion typically usable in conjunction with a seat mounted within the cabin of a commercial airliner. The removable cushion includes threat-resistant material located on one side or the other or internally to prevent penetration of a projectile from a firearm or penetration of a sharp edged or sharp pointed instrument and thereby protect a user against a potentially fatal injury. Straps may be attached to the cushion to afford holding the cushion in front of a user""s body part to be protected against attack without unnecessarily exposing the user""s hands and arms to injury.